Proposal would require private insurers to cover abortions
State lawmakers will be asked this session to require private insurance plans to cover abortion, a mandate that likely would be the first of its kind in the nation.
Backed by abortion-rights advocates, the proposal would extend a 20-year-old mandate that insurance plans funded or administered by the state cover abortion if they cover maternity care.
The proposal, still in draft form, comes amid uncertainty about how the federal health-care overhaul, and restrictions on abortion funding, might affect abortion coverage in the state.
State and federal regulations are in play as the state prepares to set up a health-insurance exchange, a marketplace for buyers established by the 2010 federal health-care law.